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Salt Lake City Airport hosts 9/11 remembrance ceremony

Posted at 12:44 PM, Sep 11, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-11 14:44:10-04

SALT LAKE CITY -- One of Utah’s larger 9/11 remembrance ceremonies was held Tuesday morning at Salt Lake City International Airport, just as the sun was coming up.

Two ladder trucks from the Salt Lake Fire Department helped raise a huge American flag. Then, with bagpipes playing and a US Marine color guard on hand, hundreds of construction workers helping with the airport rebuild took time out to remember and acknowledge what happened 17 years ago.

Angel Medina, the project safety director and a US Marine, spoke passionately about the significance of 9/11—the horrible loss of life, the sense of fear and sadness, but also how we came together as a nation afterward.

"It hits me every year," Medina said. "Being part of the military, spending my time on foreign soil: it does have a huge emotional impact on me, along with a lot of the other members of our project site."

The current airport police chief, Craig Vargo, was a newer airport officer back then. He says the events of that fateful day only reinforced his commitment to public safety.

"When you get started in law enforcement, it's because you have a calling," Vargo said. "You feel like you have a duty to do something... to be a part of something that's bigger than just you as an individual."